<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Reciprocation by SouthernGirlWhispers</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23679196">Reciprocation</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SouthernGirlWhispers/pseuds/SouthernGirlWhispers'>SouthernGirlWhispers</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Animal Abuse, Blood and Gore, Horror, Mutilation, Other, Violence, Werewolves, Yandere</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 15:55:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,193</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23679196</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SouthernGirlWhispers/pseuds/SouthernGirlWhispers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A dead animal laid out on your doorstep like a gift is a little strange. What if it keeps happening? That's when things can become terrifying.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Reciprocation</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It started with a dead squirrel. 
</p><p>I didn’t think it was <em>that</em> unusual at the time. Why would I?
</p><p>Yes, it looked as if it was bitten. And, yes, it was laid out on my doorstop. But my subdivision was right next to the woods. Dead animals weren’t really that strange.
</p><p>Maybe it had been killed by a coyote that dropped it when it was startled by one of my neighbors. Or it was a hawk that dropped it, or a maybe even a bobcat? There were plenty of logical explanations. 
</p><p>I should have known better.
</p><p>Everything seems clearer in hindsight though, doesn’t it?
</p><p>I didn’t think too much of it when I found the dead squirrel.
</p><p>However, I felt <em>uneasy</em> when I found the dead fox.
</p><p>For starters, it was laid out on my doorstep first thing in the morning, like its predecessor. Also, it looked mauled, but uneaten. 
</p><p>Was it possible the local animals were all that easily startled? Clumsy perhaps? 
</p><p>How did this manage to happen twice in such a short span of time?
</p><p>That night was the first time I heard the howling. At first, I thought it could be an explanation for what was happening. A pack of wolves? That would make perfect sense.
</p><p>It didn’t take long for the realization to kick in that it was a lone howl. This went on all night as well as the next two nights before it came to a sudden stop.
</p><p>Everything was back to normal, right?
</p><p>I screamed the morning I found the dead deer. 
</p><p>Another dead animal? Not a shock.
</p><p>A deer though? The buck was huge! What could have killed it?
</p><p>The man from animal control said that it was probably hit by a car, but even he didn’t look convinced by that.
</p><p>Was it possible one wolf could have done that? That didn’t seem right at all. What about a bear? It would be big enough, right?
</p><p>No matter what was killing these animals, why did they keep ending up on my doorstep?
</p><p>Nights started to become a little more sleepless after that.
</p><p>Maybe that could explain what happened a week later.
</p><p>My next-door-neighbor, Nathan, had this little dog. A little Pomeranian named Rufus. The little cretin was the terror of the neighborhood. Nathan would just let him run wild up and down the street at any hour of the day.
</p><p>Five o’clock in the morning? Yeah, there was a good chance you were going to wake up to Rufus barking his lungs out right next to your window.
</p><p>Want to take a nice afternoon stroll? He was skitting by, yapping at your heels. You could count on it.
</p><p>As annoying as it was, I did my best to ignore it. 
</p><p>After a week of insomnia, it wasn’t a great day for Rufus to come nipping at my heelss. 
</p><p>All I wanted to do was water my plants. I couldn’t even do that in peace, and it was all Nathan’s fault. If he keep an eye on his stupid dog…
</p><p>Rufus sunk his teeth into my pants leg. It was the last straw for me at that moment. 
</p><p>To be fair, he didn’t even bite me, but I still turned the hose on the dog.
</p><p>As I was shouting at the dog, Nathan started shouting at me. 
</p><p>The one time he decided to watch his dumb dog was the day I decided to retaliate. Lucky me, huh?
</p><p>After calling me a few choice names, Nathan took Rufus back inside. 
</p><p>A little later, I did feel kind of guilty for the way I reacted. Rufus wasn’t vicious, a bit annoying. It wasn’t his fault that his owner didn’t know how to take care of him. 
</p><p>I went to bed with a headache that night. 
</p><p>The next morning, it was Rufus’s body on my doorstep.
</p><p>Nathan thought I killed his dog. Of course, he did! I had the most obvious motivation for it. He didn’t have any evidence against me, though. With the woods so close to our homes, any number of animals could have been responsible for the death. Besides, why would I leave the body on my doorstep? That just wasn’t logical. 
</p><p>The police told him as much, anyway. 
</p><p>I tried to forget about it. 
</p><p>It wasn’t that I didn’t care, I did. While I didn’t exactly love the mutt, I definitely didn’t want him dead. 
</p><p>Especially… like that. 
</p><p>Nathan didn’t believe my version of events. 
</p><p>I think it was the shouting match we had that led to… to the worst moment of my life. 
</p><p>Who wouldn’t expect him to become angry? I’m sure in his eyes I’d killed his dog and escaped justice for it. <em>I would be angry.</em> 
</p><p>Unfortunately, Nathan decided to confront me as I headed out the door for work. I can’t remember everything that occurred during this exchange. Slurs were thrown, accusations were tossed at me, and he gave me a shove. 
</p><p>Maybe if he hadn’t done that…?
</p><p>Maybe it didn’t matter.
</p><p>It wasn’t even really that hard of a shove. He was just angry, and I wasn’t even hurt. Aggravated? Yes. Feeling threatened? Definitely. Hurt? No, I wasn’t even bruised by it. 
</p><p>I think someone was watching though, and they didn’t see it that way. 
</p><p>That evening, my doorbell rang. 
</p><p>I felt safe assuming that it might have been Nathan again. It could have been one of the other neighbors stopping by after witnessing the incident that morning. 
</p><p>When I opened the door, no one was standing there. Even in the dark, I could see what was waiting there for me.
</p><p>My blood froze in its veins. 
</p><p>By this time, finding a dead animal couldn’t have shocked me anymore. I half-expected to see one on my doorstep.
</p><p>That wasn’t what I saw. The thing I saw must have escaped from my worst nightmares.
</p><p>Nathan…
</p><p>He was in shreds.
</p><p>It looked like he’d been mauled by an animal.
</p><p>Nothing was where it supposed to be.
</p><p>His joints  bent in the opposite directions...
</p><p>A bit of his shoulder pried out, and claws had ripped through him over and over from his head down his legs
</p><p>His face was hanging off the side of his head, muscles and skull exposed. 
</p><p>But…
</p><p>It couldn’t be.
</p><p>I <em>knew</em> it couldn’t be...
</p><p>I<em> knew</em> there had to be a horrifying explanation behind everything that happened. 
</p><p>This was all too… deliberate.
</p><p>That was when I saw <em>him.</em>
</p><p>How long was he standing there?
</p><p>Nathan’s body had drawn my attention… How could it <em>not?</em>
</p><p>That’s the only way I could have possible missed the hulking figure who was standing right in front of me. 
</p><p>The man’s eyes were a bright yellow, and the way he looked at me…
</p><p>There was no doubt in my mind.
</p><p>I wanted to scream, but the sound caught in my throat. The only thing I could manage to do was gape at him in my horror. 
</p><p>He took a step towards me. 
</p><p>Feeling frozen to the spot, I struggled to react. I lost my balanced and fell backwards.
</p><p>As I scrambled to escape him, I couldn’t help but notice his wolfish grin. 
</p><p>END</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is based on a prompt from "1001 Horror Writing Prompts: That Will Help Motivate You Creatively" by Christina Escamilla. Feel free to let me know what y'all thought!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>